Finally...back on the water on Thursday March 12!

Last Thursday, March 12, Five Star Charters had the first whale watching trip of the 2009 season! Even though it is still winter it was a beautiful day…the sun was shining and there was little wind. The Olympic Mountains in Washington State looked amazing especially with such good snowcover; a sight not commonly seen during the warm summer days of the whale watching season.

The Olympic Mountains, Washington State - Race Rocks is in the distance and Mount Olympus is the mountain seen through the Elwha River Valley

When we left the dock at 1530, with our group of die-hard passengers (and 5 crew!), we had no reports of whales. Another whale watching boat returned from a trip but, after searching the waters of Haro Strait east of Victoria, had no sightings to report. So we decided to head south towards Race Rocks and into the Strait of Juan De Fuca to see what we could find.

Rocks at Race Rocks with Mt Baker in background

View of Mt Olympus from Race Rocks

A couple days earlier, on the evening o f March 10, (check out the reports on Orca Sightings Network) J pod, one of the three, fish eating, Southern Resident Killer Whale pods, swam north past the Lime Kiln Lighthouse on the west shore of San Juan Island, Washington State (check out the Center for Whale Research encounter). Their vocalizations from the hydrophone at the lighthouse were amazing (OrcaSound Hydrophones with killer whale recordings) and, despite the tanker traffic, all who tuned in to OrcaSound hydrophones were able to listen to them for quite some time!

One of the pair of nesting bald Eagle adding sticks to nest at Albert Head

With the knowledge that J pod recently passed through the area we felt, despite how early in the season it was, there was a decent chance of seeing killer whales. As well, there had been many winter sightings of Transients or mammal-eating killer whales. Captain Trev and our local whale guru, Ron Bates of the Marine Mammal Research Group, decided we should head south along the shoreline of Vancouver Island, to check for Transients hunting for seals.

Harbour Seals hauled out with double crested cormorants at William Head

While we searched for marine life on our way to Race Rocks Marine Protected Area, the most southerly point of western Canada, we were fortunate enough to see a pair of nesting bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) at Albert Head. In fact, as we approached the nest we saw one eagle flying to it with a stick; it was adding new material to the nest! After seeing the eagles we continued past Race Rocks and along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. It was a beautiful trip and, although nobody else spotted them, Captain Trev spotted a couple of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). It’s not surprising they were only seen once as this species of porpoise usually avoids vessels.

Club Fed! William Head minimum security penitentiary

We continued west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca until we reached Secretary Island off East Sooke Park where we saw many harbour seals hauled out on the rocks. Locally, harbour seals are affectionately known as ROCK SAUSAGES since they are one of the favourite foods of the Transient killer whales. As we turned around to head east, back to Race Rocks, the wind picked up a little; it was a somewhat bouncy and wet ride but our adventurous passengers appeared to enjoy it.

Harbour Seals aka rock sausages, at Secretary Island off East Sooke Park

Lighthouse at Race Rocks...looks like it's getting a new paint job!

At Race Rocks we cruised through the channel at Great Race to look for sea lions. There weren’t any on the channel side of Great Race but fortunately, just when we thought we were going to miss them, we spotted a nice group of Stellar sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) sitting on the southeast end!

Stellar sea lions at Race Rocks

After watching the sea lions' antics we headed back towards the Victoria waterfront taking in the spectacular views of Mt Baker in the early evening sun. Although we didn’t see any whales this trip we were lucky to see bald eagles building their nest, seals resting on the rocks, sea lions at Great Race and amazing views of snow-capped Mount Baker and Olympic mountains!

Olympic Mountains south of Race Rocks lighthouse

Mt Baker with and ships en route to inland waters

Our first passengers of 2009 (with Captain Trev and Ron)!